This was motivated by Edward Gallaway's stage name for the R.R. Donnelley show, which was Bustin Homes, which he derived from his necessity to bust-in of the homes of the various executives to secure their childhood photos. In other words, he took a phrase 'bust in homes' and turned it into a name....

The preferred spelling, as borne out by your research, is pinochle. For the purposes of his Hoyle book, Foster preferred "binocle". But his references included two books I haven't seen, that muddy the waters about any conclusions that one might make regarding Foster's preferences: Foster'...

On p. 75 of most editions, Erdnase lists several games in which his method of stocking can be applied. One of them is "Penuckle", which is a non-standard way of spelling "pinochle". The OED says about the game: "A card game for two or more players, played with a pack of fort...

So you've changed your opinion from "A person can't write well unless he's written a lot before" to "A person can't write well unless he's written or edited a lot before" to "A person can't write well unless he's written or edited or read a lot before." Once upon a time...

I am not the only one to note that the high quality of Erdnase's writing requires practice. You don't just wake up one day and write like Erdnase. You need a good amount of writing experience to achieve that level. If you looked at John Grisham at the end of 1989 believing the above, you'd have to ...

But if you add it to the magic and gambling books Gallaway had in his library it supports the notion that he was interested in that subject. Chris--are you trying to sneak that by again? There is no evidence that Gallaway owned more than one magic book-- The Expert. The statement - "Edward Gal...

Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (1973) “It’s not enough to be able to lie with a straight face; anybody with enough gall to raise on a busted flush can do that. The first way to lie artistically is to tell the truth — but not all of it. The second way involves telling the truth, too, but is ha...

Take MFA who was a cardshark, who clearly did not want to be associated with being one, because he used several aliases, but he traveled with literature on card sharping which was found in his steamer trunks. Not only did MFA have such books he traveled with them. Do you have any evidence of this o...

The copyright application is in care of James McKinney, but doesn't say that he is a printer or that the address, 73 Plymouth, is his business address. But the published register of copyrighted works says "Chicago, J. McKinney & co., printers". I wonder how the copyright office came to...

For Leonard, and everyone else who didn't get the book, here is what Olsson examined. Edward Gallaway: Estimating for Printing (1927) William Hilliar: The Modern Magician’s Handbook (1902) August Roterberg: New Era Card Tricks (1897) Wilbur E. Sanders: The framing of rectangular shaft sets (1904) an...

how would his being identified in his life time be relevant? if we establish he didn't want to be identified then that suggests he would take certain steps to prevent it. Perhaps you didn't follow my drift. Here it is again spelled out for you. Erdnase did not want to associate himself with gamblin...

And if you look at the actual report, he excluded Hilliar and Sanders for reasons other than dissimilarity of language. That is completely false. He only excluded them for the comparison of the Charlier Pass. . . . All other tests and comparisons included Sanders and included Hilliar, and thus his ...

and comedy magic is only one branch of magic and even then good comedy has a premise which holds the punchline in place. you can't have a punch line without a clear set up, Like Johnny Carson would say, "If they buy the premise, they buy the bit." again, how many magicians have managed to...

Alas, we know so little about Erdnase that it’s very difficult to propose candidates who are known authors. On one hand you critique that only 5 candidates were studied by Olsson, on the other you can't suggest a single one which should have been included. Do you understand that your critique was s...

Three days ago, I suggested some of the copyright paperwork for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz looks like it may have been filled out by Jamieson. I just noticed that in the associated correspondence from the Wizard's author, L. Frank Baum, his address was 356 Dearborn -- the same address Drake was oper...

Per your logic a candidate about whom we know nothing is just as good as any other candidate in the pool. No, because a candidate we know nothing about would never be a candidate in the first place. You've got to have some knowledge about them that associates them with the possibility of being Erdn...

Chris -- again, so what? Most here had already agreed that sleight of hand with playing cards, that some contact with McKinney, that the ability to write, were all important characteristics that Erdnase would have been required to have. An estimate of how many people had those characteristics doesn...

I just read this quote from Mason Williams, a musician and writer from the Smothers Brothers show of 50 years ago: "Art is the lie that makes us see the truth. " I believe that was also said by Picasso - who Keyes says he does not respect, him being a mere "portrait painter" and...

Chris -- again, so what? Most here had already agreed that sleight of hand with playing cards, that some contact with McKinney, that the ability to write, were all important characteristics that Erdnase would have been required to have. An estimate of how many people had those characteristics doesn'...

But to what end? Suppose we have a bunch of numbers. What do you do with them? Are you trying to calculate the probability that Gallaway was Erdnase? Probabilities are useful for examining random processes, and whether or not Gallaway (or Sanders, or Andrews) was Erdnase isn't the outcome of a rando...

Thomas Sawyer recently posted some thoughts on the relative strengths of the various candidates for Erdnase, and how to measure that. Normally, when a discussion occurs on his blog, I'd respond over there. But I'm going to post here in this case. The reason is that sometimes Tom takes posts, discuss...

One text? The Expert? Surely even you would agree that a well rounded magician would have more than just one magic book in his library. How many magic books did E.S. Andrews and W.E. Sanders have in their library? Irrelevant, since no one is building a case for Andrews or Sanders based on their mag...

For the past two years, much of the traffic on this thread has been driven by Chris contending that Gallaway was Erdnase, and every other sentient being who cares going, eh, not so much. If you find this interesting (in any sense of the word -- something worth thinking about, or like a traffic wreck...

The information about the Alabama Central Railway and Lanier and Selma is legit. Bill you should make up your mind. First you say the author doesn't know Alabama well enough to have lived there, because he gets the first name of Pettus wrong, and now you are saying he is legit. The author of this s...

Ike Morgan was a friend of L. Frank Baum and W. W. Denslow, who respectively wrote and illustrated the original Wizard of Oz . Morgan went on to illustrate a later Oz book, The Woggle-Bug Book. Another unusual connection from Jamieson-Higgins to Oz is that some of the original copyright paperwork fo...

I find it very plausible that . . . To me, "plausible" means that "I don't know anything that disproves this." You seem to use it as if the idea in question tends to support whatever thesis you are trying to prove. Still no reference for . . . Augustus. Here 'tis . If I had a gr...

Your boy Eugene has compiled a bunch of poker stories that others wrote, and put them together in a book. Where did he take the names and stories involving . . . Rev. Lettus Hitemhard from? Here or maybe here . And have you considered that Eugene Edwards/Edward Gallaway may have written these stori...

Who would know the name of a senator down to the second initial, but somebody who actually lived in Alabama during the time the senator was in office (1897-1907)? Anyone who could read a newspaper . Edwards is retelling someone else's tale here, as well, even to misnaming the Senator. He had no per...

Tom Sawyer's most recent post on his blog makes the strong case that Eugene Edwards (author of Jack Pots) was, if not a plagiarist, certainly a borrower of the language of other people's writings. If that is so, then it would seem to be a great mark against Gallaway being Erdnase if you make the cas...